All I have ever wanted is the truth and closure. I want to know how my daughter died, who was
there, why it happened. It is distressing to watch convicted rapist & murderer Christoper Tapp try to convince the justice system that he is
innocent, and frustrating that Tapp has refused to give up any significant information about others involved in crimes. - Carol Dodge

IDAHO FALLS - A bright yellow crocus breaks through the earth in an east-facing garden. Soft green grass appears on a neighbor's lawn. Flocks of
geese and ducks fill the sky over the Snake River with their raucous cries.

Every day, another sign of spring brings joy to the people of this Idaho community who experienced a long, cold, winter this year. But since the spring
of 1997, Idaho Falls resident Carol Dodge has not greeted spring like most other city residents who start making plans for a fun summer in this
beautiful area of America.

Every spring marks another year that the brutal rape and murder of her daughter, Angie Raye Dodge, remains unsolved. And while people flock to the
greenbelt to walk the trails along the river, Dodge goes there to remember her daughter. A marker is there to honor Angie and remind others that the
community has numerous unsolved murders and missing people. Each brings daily heartbreak to the victims' loved ones. Each makes the community feel
unsettled and unsafe.

Angie Raye Dodge was a beautiful young woman, with bright blue eyes, blonde hair, and a vibrant personality. She graduated from Idaho Falls High School
with the class of 1995. In high school she participated in track, honor society, and the Renaissance Club, an organization honoring academic achievers.
Her friends describe her as upbeat, outgoing, likable, and caring.

Her life, so full of promise and potential, was snuffed out by evil when she was raped and murdered in her Idaho Falls apartment on I Street, not far
from the greenbelt, early in the morning of June 13, 1996. She was 18 years old.

This week, Carol Dodge is already wondering how she will handle the 12th anniversary of her daughter's death, now less than three months away.
It's as raw a hurt today as it was the day she was told about the murder, especially so because the one person convicted of the rape and murder is
now claiming he was unjustly convicted and is asking for a new trial.

Christopher Tapp is serving a life sentence for the crimes, but claims in a civil suit that his attorney did not adequately represent him.

Pickett will then have seven days to refute Stosich's arguments, and then Judge Tingey can take up to 30 days to make a decision.

In a detailed, graphic, videotaped confession in January 1997, Tapp told police investigators he held Angie down while a man named Benjamin Hobbs and a
person he knew only as "Mike," raped her. Tapp told detective Jared Fuhriman, now the mayor of Idaho Falls, that Hobbs forced him to stab
Angie. He also testified that Hobbs slit the young woman's throat. Angie's neck was nearly severed from her body.

DNA evidence has not been linked to Hobbs, so Tapp was the only person charged in the crimes. District Judge Ted Wood sentenced him to 30 years to life
in prison.

Carol Dodge said it was "extremely difficult" to see Tapp in court last week. She said it is distressing to watch Tapp try to convince the
justice system that he is innocent, and frustrating that Tapp has refused to give up any significant information about others involved in the rape and
murder.

Dodge notes that it is unfortunate that convicted rapists and murderers like Tapp can sit in prison year after year and talk themselves out of taking
responsibility for their actions and attempt to convince others of their innocence. It is hard on the legal system and horribly tough on the victims
families.

"All I have ever wanted is the truth and closure," she says. "I want to know how my daughter died, who was there, why it happened."

This is the second time the prosecutor's office has filed a motion to dismiss Tapp's civil case. Tingey granted Pickett's earlier motion to
dismiss on seven points. But he ruled that there is validity to Stosich's argument that the jury might not have gotten an accurate picture of
Tapp's mental condition, and that Tapp's lawyer failed to allow Tapp to testify and didn't introduce evidence of a learning disability Tapp
may have.

Pickett argued that the videotapes show that Tapp was aware of the seriousness of the charges he was facing, and knew his rights.

Dodge says Tapp describes the murder and rape in horrific detail, so much so that any claims that he was repeating anything he had heard from another
person cannot be true.

Tingey could rule that Tapp received a fair trial and sentence. If he rules there was a problem with the sentence, another hearing would be scheduled.
If he rules that Tapp didn't receive a fair trial, Tapp's conviction would be vacated. The state would then have to decide whether or not to
bring new charges against him.

Dodge says it's agonizing to think that Tapp would ever be set free.

But that's just one of many aspects of the case that haunt her constantly. An even bigger problem for Dodge is the lack of regional and national
exposure the case has had from day one.

Today, television is awash with shows hosted by personalities like Nancy Grace, Geraldo, Oprah, and Greta Van Susteren, and news specials that reenact
unsolved cases, and give enormous attention to unsolved murders and missing persons cases. Sometimes this leads to arrests, convictions, and to finding
lost people - to the closure Dodge so passionately seeks. But her daughter's case has had local coverage only, for the most part.

Dodge believes there are people alive today who could help bring complete closure to the crime, verifying Tapp's confession and identifying others
who were directly and indirectly involved. Some of these people may have known Angie, Tapp, and others who frequented the greenbelt and lived in
Angie's neighborhood. They may have moved away from Idaho Falls before the crime was committed and, due to the lack of publicity about the case,
may never have heard about the rape and murder.

Or, perhaps they were involved in drugs and other risky behavior at that time, as Tapp was, and never came forward out of fear. But now they may be on
a better path in life and want to come clean about what they know, Dodge says.

As the 12th anniversary of Angie's death approaches, Dodge has renewed her efforts to find a media outlet to publicize the case in hopes of finding
people who can help her find that long sought closure.

Also of great concern to Dodge is frustration with those who investigated the crime scene and interviewed witnesses. Idaho Falls police did the typical
thing of first looking for suspects among family members. Dodge says this wasted valuable time.

The Dodge family also charges that investigators did not handle all the physical evidence properly. For example, Dodge was given some items that were
in her daughter's apartment. She put them in storage, not having the heart to go through them. But after some time had passed, a friend helped
Dodge open the storage containers. Dodge said they were shocked to find substantial physical evidence that demonstrated a violent act. Police were
notified and an investigator cut some of this evidence from the items and claims to have taken it to a lab. Dodge has never heard the results.

Also puzzling is that the city of Idaho Falls claims it has no taped records of any 911 calls the night of the murder. Dodge says this means there is
no evidence that Angie had tried to call for help.

Dodge is also angry that the crime scene was released within the 24- hour period after the discovery of Angie's death. Reports state that
Angie's body was taken from the crime scene at 5:05 p. m. However. the chief of police released the crime scene shortly after 10 a.m. the following
morning to the owner of the apartment building.

"Less than a 24-hour crime scene investigation on a brutal murder?" says Dodge.

The owner then called a cleaning and restoration service that painted the walls and removed the carpet. Dodge said she contacted this service and was
told that investigators had not removed any pieces of the carpet. Knowing that the carpet could have held physical evidence, Dodge asked investigators
why no samples were taken. She later learned that after she had called the investigators, they contacted the cleaning service to obtain a carpet
sample, and the service said the carpet had been hauled to the landfill.

Dodge also said that the police department removed a wallet that was found in a shoebox taken from the crime scene at Angie's apartment. However
the wallet belonged to someone that a police department employee knew. This wallet was released to the owner's father immediately. The young man
was interviewed, and he claimed he had lost the wallet outdoors, he barely knew Angie, and she must have found it on the ground. Dodge questions the
legality of releasing any evidences within the first 72 hours into a murder investigation.

Because Angie had known Tapp, although not well, and Tapp was in a circle of people who were known to have been playing around with drugs, Angie's
autopsy included a toxicology report. It was clean for drugs and alcohol. Although some may say Angie may have been involved in some risky behavior on
a limited basis, it is more likely that she would have encouraged others to stop using drugs. Angie was an honor student and a hard worker with
specific goals she hoped to achieve, Dodge notes.

However, some say Angie seemed troubled and withdrawn a week or so before her death. In fact the night Angie was murdered, Carol said, Angie came and
visited with her for a few hours and Carol recalls those lasts moments of seeing Angie alive. Angie pulled out of the drive-way at 10:24 p. m. Carol
will be forever grateful for her last words to Angie, which were, "I love you.

During that visit, Angie told Carol she had "done something stupid," Carol says. Carol replied that everyone does stupid things sometimes,
and Angie replied that she had done something "really stupid." Carol said she did not press her daughter for an explanation. She said Angie
also told her she wanted to get out of town and planned to visit her father the next day. He was working in security at Colter Bay on Jackson Lake in
Grand Teton National Park.

Later, Carol learned that Angie had gone to Stucki's Gas station after their visit, and Angie told a friend there that if she did not have to work
the next morning at Beauty of all Seasons, she would leave right then, because she needed to get out of town. This was at 10:45 p. m. on June 12.

Dodge said some of Angie's friends recalled that Angie seemed quiet and withdrawn at times during the two weeks before the murder.

Also not long before her death, Angie had taken a short plane trip out of Idaho Falls. What happened on that plane trip, and who else may have been
involved in the trip, could be clues to solving the crimes, Dodge says. Dodge said an airport security person who knew Angie saw Angie at the airport
shortly after 5 p. m. a week or two prior to her death, wearing a long skirt and Birkenstock sandals, carrying a backpack, and appearing to be happy.
And, she saw Angie return that same night. Dodge said investigators never followed up on that plane trip, to her knowledge.

This is another reason why giving the case regional and national exposure could help. Maybe a flight attendant, airport worker, ticket salesperson, or
other passenger remembers seeing Angie and knows the flight's destination. Maybe they saw Angie with another person at the airport or on the plane.

Another concern is that there were tips that a confidential informer working with narcotics agents was part of Tapp's crowd.

Idaho Falls investigators have often reported that they did not think drugs were involved in the case, or that the murder was premeditated. Dodge said
she has always felt uncomfortable with this because the investigators know that some of the people Angie hung out with were involved with drugs.
Angie's anxiety prior to her murder also implies that she feared she was in danger.

In an early story on the case, the Post Register reports that one detective said the case is "frustrating because people who might have valuable
information about the murder are in the local drug culture and are not likely to speak to police." But then the detective went on to say he did
not believe the murder was drugrelated.

Investigators interviewed around 200 people, once they got through with the family, said Dodge. These included Angie's friends and strangers who
hung out in the neighborhood and on the greenbelt.

More than 75 DNA samples were taken from people who were interviewed. In 2007, a Florida laboratory determined that whoever raped Angie was 96 percent
Caucasian and 4 percent Asian.

When the DNA results were announced, Detective Capt. Roger Smart of the Idaho Falls Police Department said, "It is basically a cold case, but it
is not a closed case. We run down every piece of information we get."

Benjamin Hobbs - the man Tapp says slit Angie's throat - has never admitted any role in the rape and murder. Hobbs is in prison in Ely, NV. for
first degree kidnapping, sexual assault, and battery with a deadly weapon committed in January 1997 on a young woman from Nevada. Hobbs is originally
from Las Vegas Nevada, and lived in Idaho Falls at the time of Angie's death.

Again, because of the lack of regional and national exposure to the case, someone may be out there who knew Hobbs before he was arrested for the Nevada
crime and could link him to Angie's murder.

Dodge said it has also been difficult to accept that in June, 2001, Bonneville County Prosecutor Kipp Manwaring decided to not pursue an accessory
charge against Jeremy Sargis, formerly of Idaho Falls.

Sargis faced the accessory charge in 1997 after he was accused of withholding information about Dodge' s murder from authorities. The charge was
dismissed after Manwaring said he would seek the charge again at the end of convicted murderer Christopher Tapp' s court hearings, according to
court records.

Sargis testified at Tapp' s 1997 preliminary hearing on murder and rape charges, but he pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked questions.

Dodge was found dead in her bedroom by a co-worker from the Beauty For All Seasons company, who was concerned that she had not come to work. There was
no sign of forced entry into the apartment. There were signs of a short struggle. Dodge's landlady, who lives downstairs, told police she did not
hear anything unusual Wednesday night, just a stereo playing in the early evening.

Angie had moved into the apartment around a month before her death, and had no roommates.

Until just before her death, she worked part-time at Stucki's, and then at Beauty For All Seasons.

In the early days of the investigation, some of Angie's friends said Angie had learned that her thenboyfriend, Christian Grebstad, had been in
touch with an ex-girlfriend.

Grebstad had dated Angie for around six weeks, until just before her murder, and was reported in a Post Register story as having said he's
"still in shock" about her death. The relationship ended when Angie found a letter Grebstad had written to his ex-girlfriend and got the
wrong impression, he said.

The morning after Tapp's March 19 hearing, Dodge said she was losing hope. The stress has affected her health - she has had four heart attacks. She
has driven thousands of miles following leads gleaned from various sources, including the Web site, www.angiedodge.com .

She has been down from time to time for almost 12 years now. But she is a woman of inspiring, amazing determination, strength, and love. She always
picks herself up and finds a seed of hope planted in her strong faith in God. Someday, justice will triumph.

A cash award is available for people who have information that leads to a conviction. If you know anything about Angie Raye Dodge's case, call the
Idaho Falls Police Department's detectives division at 529-1416. You also can call Crime Stoppers at 522-1983 and give a tip anonymously.

Idaho Innocence Project Director Doctor Greg Hampikian says the sample has not been subjected to modern DNA testing.

Dr. Greg Hampikian: "He's (Tapp has) written to us with a claim of innocence. There's evidence to test that could identify, at least
possibly identify, the perpetrators of the sexual assault and that would help us fill in his story and investigate his claim of innocence and that
means that there are probably at least people it looks like from the DNA who were involved in this crime who are still out in the community."

Tapp's attorney, John Stosich, says he's been in communication with the Idaho Innocence Project and believes this new DNA testing is pertinent
to his client's post-conviction relief. As for Angie's mother, Carole, she says Tapp's videotaped confession proves he was there. She just
wants the others who were involved to be brought to justice.

As far as Tapp's post-conviction relief, we're still awaiting a judge's decision on whether Tapp could get a new trial. That decision could
come at any time.

We are going to solve Idaho Falls' 1996 Angie Raye Dodge
murder. This is an extremely ambitious goal, but solving this murder is vital for a local family to get closure, for our community to finally know
what happened, and possibly to expose official misdeeds at that time. The stakes are high to solve the murder now, because the more time that passes the less
likely folks will remember what happened.

Twelve years have passed since Angie Dodge's brutal rape and murder, so every passing day reduces the chance to uncover what happened and solve
this mystery. New details have been revealed by Carol Dodge, Angie's mother, and it seems the Idaho Falls Police Department botched the murder investigation. Authorities may also have intentionally not pursued suspects because of
narcotics informant relationships. IFPD blunders are part of this story, but I don't want to solely focus on them because the main story is about Angie
Dodge's murder.

Carol Dodge observed her daughter's murder mystery has never been picked up by a major media outlet. We see all the time on Oprah and other
outlets how murder mysteries get re-enacted and an hour dedicated to airing the story nationwide. The hope is always that someone out there knows something
and will be brave enough to finally come forward. If you know anyone who works at a major media outlet that produces this content, please contact them
immediately and ask what needs to happen for Angie Dodge's story to get aired.

Immediately after Angie's murder, many possible suspects and witnesses were involved in drug business. Witnesses who knew some things may have
been understandably reluctant to come forward with their information, possibly fearing prosecution or retribution. However, now twelve years have passed, we
would hope most of those people are not involved with the same folks they were back then, and hopefully they now feel safer to share their
information.

The following excerpt is reprinted with permission, and contains several details of Angie's murder investigation which I had not heard
before:

Mother still seeks closure of her
daughter's murder case
By Elizabeth Laden
…
[Angie Dodge] graduated from Idaho Falls High School with the class of 1995. In
high school she participated in track, honor society, and the Renaissance Club, an organization honoring academic achievers. Her friends describe her as
upbeat, outgoing, likable, and caring.
…
…she was raped and murdered in her Idaho Falls apartment on I Street, not far
from the greenbelt, early in the morning of June 13, 1996. She was 18 years old.
…
…the one person convicted of the rape and murder is now claiming he was unjustly convicted and is asking for a new trial.
Christopher Tapp is serving a life sentence for the crimes, but claims in a civil suit that his attorney did not adequately represent him.
…
In a detailed, graphic, videotaped confession in January 1997, Tapp told police investigators he held Angie down while a man named Benjamin Hobbs and a
person he knew only as "Mike," raped her. Tapp told detective Jared Fuhriman, now the mayor of Idaho Falls, that Hobbs forced him to stab Angie. He also testified that Hobbs slit the
young woman's throat. Angie's neck was nearly severed from her body.

DNA evidence has not been linked to Hobbs, so Tapp was the only person charged in the crimes. District Judge Ted Wood sentenced him to 30 years to
life in prison.
…
[Tapp is also trying to work a learning disability into his defense argument.]
…
[Mother Carol Dodge] says. "I want to know how my daughter died, who was there, why it happened."
…
[Bonneville County Prosecutor Bruce] Pickett argued that the videotapes show that Tapp was aware of the seriousness of the charges he was facing, and knew
his rights.

Dodge says Tapp describes the murder and rape in horrific detail, so much so that any claims that he was repeating anything he had heard from
another person cannot be true.
…
Also of great concern to Dodge is frustration with those who investigated the crime scene and interviewed witnesses. Idaho Falls police did the typical thing of first looking for suspects among family
members. Dodge says this wasted valuable time.

The Dodge family also charges that investigators did not handle all the physical evidence properly. For example, Dodge was given some items that
were in her daughter's apartment. She put them in storage, not having the heart to go through them. But after some time had passed, a friend helped
Dodge open the storage containers. Dodge said they were shocked to find substantial physical evidence that demonstrated a violent act. Police were notified
and an investigator cut some of this evidence from the items and claims to have taken it to a lab. Dodge has never heard the results.

Also puzzling is that the city of Idaho Falls claims it has no taped
records of any 911 calls the night of the murder. Dodge says this means there is no evidence that Angie had tried to call for help.

Dodge is also angry that the crime scene was released within the 24-hour period after the discovery of Angie's death. Reports state that
Angie's body was taken from the crime scene at 5:05 p. m. However. the chief of police released the crime scene shortly after 10 a.m. the following
morning to the owner of the apartment building.

"Less than a 24-hour crime scene investigation on a brutal murder?" says Dodge.

The owner then called a cleaning and restoration service that painted the walls and removed the carpet. Dodge said she contacted this service and
was told that investigators had not removed any pieces of the carpet. Knowing that the carpet could have held physical evidence, Dodge asked investigators
why no samples were taken. She later learned that after she had called the investigators, they contacted the cleaning service to obtain a carpet sample,
and the service said the carpet had been hauled to the landfill.

Dodge also said that the police department removed a wallet that was found in a shoebox taken from the crime scene at Angie's apartment.
However the wallet belonged to someone that a police department employee knew. This wallet was released to the owner's father immediately. The young
man was interviewed, and he claimed he had lost the wallet outdoors, he barely knew Angie, and she must have found it on the ground. Dodge questions the
legality of releasing any evidences within the first 72 hours into a murder investigation.

Because Angie had known Tapp, although not well, and Tapp was in a circle of people who were known to have been playing around with drugs,
Angie's autopsy included a toxicology report. It was clean for drugs and alcohol. Although some may say Angie may have been involved in some risky
behavior on a limited basis, it is more likely that she would have encouraged others to stop using drugs. Angie was an honor student and a hard worker with
specific goals she hoped to achieve, Dodge notes.

However, some say Angie seemed troubled and withdrawn a week or so before her death. In fact the night Angie was murdered, Carol said, Angie came
and visited with her for a few hours and Carol recalls those lasts moments of seeing Angie alive. Angie pulled out of the drive-way at 10:24 p. m. Carol
will be forever grateful for her last words to Angie, which were, "I love you."

During that visit, Angie told Carol she had "done something stupid," Carol says. Carol replied that everyone does stupid things
sometimes, and Angie replied that she had done something "really stupid." Carol said she did not press her daughter for an explanation. She said
Angie also told her she wanted to get out of town and planned to visit her father the next day. He was working in security at Colter Bay on Jackson Lake in
Grand Teton National Park.

Later, Carol learned that Angie had gone to Stucki's Gas station after their visit, and Angie told a friend there that if she did not have to
work the next morning at Beauty of all Seasons, she would leave right then, because she needed to get out of town. This was at 10:45 p. m. on June
12.

Dodge said some of Angie's friends recalled that Angie seemed quiet and withdrawn at times during the two weeks before the murder.

Also not long before her death, Angie had taken a short plane trip out of Idaho
Falls. What happened on that plane trip, and who else may have been involved in the trip, could be clues to solving the crimes, Dodge says.
Dodge said an airport security person who knew Angie saw Angie at the airport shortly after 5 p. m. a week or two prior to her death, wearing a long skirt
and Birkenstock sandals, carrying a backpack, and appearing to be happy. And, she saw Angie return that same night. Dodge said investigators never followed
up on that plane trip, to her knowledge.

This is another reason why giving the case regional and national exposure could help. Maybe a flight attendant, airport worker, ticket
salesperson, or other passenger remembers seeing Angie and knows the flight's destination. Maybe they saw Angie with another person at the airport or
on the plane.

Another concern is that there were tips that a confidential informer working with narcotics agents was part of Tapp's crowd.

Idaho Falls investigators have often reported that they did not think
drugs were involved in the case, or that the murder was premeditated. Dodge said she has always felt uncomfortable with this because the investigators know
that some of the people Angie hung out with were involved with drugs. Angie's anxiety prior to her murder also implies that she feared she was in
danger.

In an early story on the case, the Post Register reports that one detective said the case is "frustrating because people who might
have valuable information about the murder are in the local drug culture and are not likely to speak to police." But then the detective went on to say
he did not believe the murder was drug-related.

Investigators interviewed around 200 people, once they got through with the family, said Dodge. These included Angie's friends and strangers
who hung out in the neighborhood and on the greenbelt.

More than 75 DNA samples were taken from people who were interviewed. In 2007, a Florida laboratory determined that whoever raped Angie was 96
percent Caucasian and 4 percent Asian.

When the DNA results were announced, Detective Capt. Roger Smart of the Idaho
Falls Police Department said, "It is basically a cold case, but it is not a closed case. We run down every piece of information we
get."

Benjamin Hobbs - the man Tapp says slit Angie's throat - has never admitted any role in the rape and murder. Hobbs is in prison in Ely, NV.
for first degree kidnapping, sexual assault, and battery with a deadly weapon committed in January 1997 on a young woman from Nevada. Hobbs is originally
from Las Vegas Nevada, and lived in Idaho Falls at the time of Angie's
death.

Again, because of the lack of regional and national exposure to the case, someone may be out there who knew Hobbs before he was arrested for the
Nevada crime and could link him to Angie's murder.

Dodge said it has also been difficult to accept that in June, 2001, Bonneville County Prosecutor Kipp Manwaring decided to not pursue an accessory
charge against Jeremy Sargis, formerly of Idaho
Falls.

Sargis faced the accessory charge in 1997 after he was accused of withholding information about Dodge' s murder from authorities. The charge
was dismissed after Manwaring said he would seek the charge again at the end of convicted murderer Christopher Tapp' s court hearings, according to
court records.

Sargis testified at Tapp' s 1997 preliminary hearing on murder and rape charges, but he pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked
questions.

Dodge was found dead in her bedroom by a co-worker from the Beauty For All Seasons company, who was concerned that she had not come to work. There
was no sign of forced entry into the apartment. There were signs of a short struggle. Dodge's landlady, who lives downstairs, told police she did not
hear anything unusual Wednesday night, just a stereo playing in the early evening.

Angie had moved into the apartment around a month before her death, and had no roommates.

Until just before her death, she worked part-time at Stucki's, and then at Beauty For All Seasons.

In the early days of the investigation, some of Angie's friends said Angie had learned that her then-boyfriend, Christian Grebstad, had been
in touch with an ex-girlfriend.

Grebstad had dated Angie for around six weeks, until just before her murder, and was reported in a Post Register story as having said he's
"still in shock" about her death. The relationship ended when Angie found a letter Grebstad had written to his ex-girlfriend and got the wrong
impression, he said.

The Dodge family have created a website dedicated to Angie
Dodge, on which they state their appeal to the Idaho Falls Police
Department. Their appeal consists of opening Angie's case "for outside investigation by the Bonneville County Sheriff's Department, the FBI or
any other organization who may be able take a fresh look at her case and help to solve it", "investigate areas above and beyond the Christopher
Tapp version of what happened", and "allow Angie's family the same access to Angie's file as the local news paper and others have
had". Does this seem unreasonable, since the IFPD has seemingly been stuck for twelve years on this important case?

Getting down to business: Did you live on around Angie Dodge's I Street apartment in that summer of 1996? Did you know Angie
Dodge in any way? Did you hear anyone talking about Angie Dodge? Did you know Christopher Tapp or Benjamin Hobbs or Jeremy Sargis or Christian
Grebstad? Did you know who Christopher Tapp or Benjamin Hobbs or Jeremy Sargis or Christian Grebstad hung out with? Did you hang out with any of
them, or did you hang out with people who hung out with them? Did you ever see them at a party? Please feel free to state people's names and
relationships, even if you do not think they are a realistic suspect, because those names and relationships may not have been explored before, and they could
be clues that lead to the truth.

Do you know anyone affiliated with a national program who could possibly get this story aired nationwide? If so, please share this story with them
so Angie Dodge at least gets a fair chance at national exposure to solve her murder.

Do you think the Idaho Falls Police Department should ask an outside
agency to investigate how the IFPD handled this investigation? Do you think the Dodge family should have the same access to Angie's files as the Post
Register had, and/or do you think the Post Register should share all their notes from that story with the Dodge family?

Solve the Angie Dodge Murder Case

A brutal murder that could be solved if it had more
publicity!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

IDAHO FALLS, ID — Christopher Tapp, the man
convicted of raping and killing Idaho Falls resident Angie Dodge on June 13,
1996, says police and prosecutors failed to turn over critical evidence to his
defense attorney when they were preparing for Tapp’s trial. Tapp’s public
defender, John Thomas, made the claim on Tapp’s behalf in a “Brady petition”
filed with the Bonneville County court and prosecutor's office on Wednesday,
September 5. The petition calls for Tapp to be freed because the Idaho Falls
Police Department failed to share significant findings in its investigation of
the crimes. Tapp was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The petition declares that
at least 10 times in police reports, IFPD Detective Ken Brown mentions Jeffery
Lynn Smith, a former Idaho Falls resident and convicted rapist, as a suspect in
Dodge's murder, but the information was never shared with Tapp’s attorney. The
Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the prosecution violates the defendant's
rights to due process when evidence is withheld, the petition notes. John
Browning, an Idaho Falls resident in 1996, alleges in an affidavit dated August
30, 2012 and filed with the Brady petition that in 1996, he told IFPD detectives
that Smith came to the apartment he shared with his now ex wife that was not far
from the crime scene. The “visit” took place at about 3 a.m. on June 13. He said
in the affidavit that Smith had blood on his clothes, gashes on his face, and a
rug burn on his chin. Browning states that Smith made him feel “uncomfortable,”
and when he asked Browning if he could use the bathroom to wash up, Browning
said he could use an outdoor hose but could not come inside. Browning also said
Smith voluntarily explained the injuries and blood but the affidavit does not
include any details about what Smith may have said. Browning’s ex wife, Gentri
Nicole Morris Goff, gave a similar account in an affidavit dated August 13,
2012, and said the IFPD never interviewed her to see if her story matched her
husband’s. She also declared that in July 2012, Tapp’s legal team showed her a
1988 photo of Smith, and she identified him as the man who had come to the
apartment in 1996. In 1997, Christopher Tapp was convicted of raping and killing
Dodge. After hours of police interviews during which his legal team — including
the Idaho Innocence Project — says he was manipulated and coerced, Tapp
confessed to the crimes. No hard evidence, such as DNA or eyewitnesses, has
connected him to the crimes. Last month in a Dateline NBC feature on the
Innocence Project’s push to get Tapp freed, Carol Dodge, Angie’s mom, said she
now believes Tapp is innocent. On Thursday after the Brady motion was filed,
Carol Dodge said she hopes Judge Tingey “does the right thing” and frees Tapp.
Tingey has 30 days to act on the petition. On Friday, Sept. 7, Idaho Falls
Police Chief Steve Roos said one of his detectives is looking for any records
IFPD may have of contacts with Smith. He also said a DNA sample was taken of
Smith and it did not match DNA at the crime scene. In 1992, Bonneville County
charged Smith with murdering Leo and Mary Downard of Ammon, but dropped the
charges due to lack of evidence. His brother, Lanny, was later charged with the
crime and convicted. In 1998, Bonneville County convicted Smith of a 1993 rape.
"The average Joe on the street should be concerned that the police are
withholding evidence. When police start going awry there has to be checks and
balance and that’s what defense attorneys are for,” said Tapp's attorney, public
defender John Thomas, in an interview Channel 8 Eyewitness News aired Thursday,
Sept. 6. “If there is one witness out there the state is not turning over there
may be others out there.” Also on Channel 8, Bonneville County prosecutor Bruce
Pickett said, "The fact that Chris Tapp can make multiple filings with the court
or submit new evidence goes to the strength of our court system, not to the
weakness of it. If there is, other evidence, the court wants to look at it.”

Saturday, September 1, 2012

IDAHO
FALLS — An Idaho Falls mother whose daughter was murdered and raped in 1996
wants the man convicted of the crimes to be freed. Carol Dodge, mother of Angie
Dodge, shared her story with the nation on the August 24th NBC-Dateline show,
called “The Confession.” The Dateline episode is also available for viewing at
www.angiedodge.com. In June 1996, Angie was found murdered and raped in her
apartment. Christopher Tapp, who was 20 yrs old at that time, and hung near the
Snake River in downtown Idaho Falls with many other young people during that
summer; admitted to the Idaho Falls Police Department (IFPD) detectives after
several hours of interrogation that he willing took part in the murder. In 1998,
a jury convicted Tapp of murder and he has spent the past 15 years in prison.
However; Angie’s mother Carol, the Idaho Innocence Project, and state’s
appellate court attorneys’, Dennis Benjamin and Sara Thomas, now believe Tapp is
an innocent man. The NBC-Dateline episode focused on the possibility that Tapp
is innocent, and the main reason is that the IFPD has no DNA evidence that puts
Tapp at the scene. The DNA samples of semen and hair found at the crime scene
belong to a Caucasian individual that has never been brought to justice.
NBC-Dateline, Idaho Innocence Project and many others all question the tactics
that IFPD Detective Jared Fuhriman (now Idaho Falls mayor) and Det. Ken Brown
(now retired) used during the interrogation that resulted in Tapp’s confession.
They assert that Tapp was manipulated into admitting he was in Angie’s apartment
when she was killed and that he cut Angie, after another man he cannot identify
slit her throat and raped her. IFPD detectives claim that when they questioned
Tapp, he knew details about the crime that only a person who was there would
have known. However, there are many who question the IFPD’s investigative
tactics saying the detectives gave Tapp the information. The Dateline episode
showed some of the segments of the interrogation that support their assertion.
Indeed, Dodge told NBC-Dateline that she believed Tapp was guilty until she
spent many hours watching all of Tapp’s interrogation tapes. Dr. Greg Hampikian,
a professor at Boise State University, a DNA expert, and director of the Idaho
Innocence Project, has requested the DNA profiles in the Angie Dodge murder case
so that new DNA technology can be applied that would possibly lead to the true
identity of real killer. On August 14, District Judge Joel E. Tingey denied a
petition filed by Tapp, asking for YSTR DNA testing. Judge Tingey ruled that
Tapp was convicted of Angie’s murder based on Tapp’s statements, not DNA
evidence. Tingey ruled that “The identity of Tapp was not an issue at the time
of trial but rather the issue was the extent of his involvement in the murder.
Tingey stated that the DNA gathered at the crime scene was only relevant to the
identity of a yet unknown assailant. DNA evidence of an unknown individual has
no effect on Tapp’s conviction.” He noted that Idaho law allows new DNA testing
if the result of the test has “the scientific potential to produce new,
noncumulative evidence” that would show the petitioner to be innocent. Dr.
Hampikian said the Innocence Project is appealing Tingey’s decision. Still, IFPD
could request Touch DNA testing that may lead to the actual killer. Although;
IFPD Chief Steve Roos says the Dodge case is actively an open case, he has not
authorized further DNA testing. Roos has not responded to an Island Park News
requesting that he explain why he will not authorize further DNA testing. Dodge
told the News that Idaho Falls Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Pickett recently told
her Tapp will remain in prison because of his confession and the fact that he
was convicted by a jury. Pickett has not responded to a phone call or e-mail
asking for his thoughts about Tapp and also about a letter a California attorney
sent to Pickett and sent a copy to Island Park news. Dated August 27, the
letter, from Gregory Sarno of Castro Valley, blasts Pickett for allegedly making
a statement that maybe there would be “closure” for people affected by Angie’s
murder now that Tapp’s appeal was denied in July 2012. Sarno’s letter states:
“How could there be any closure when the citizens of Bonneville County, the
state of Idaho, and the nationwide ‘Dateline’ audience know beyond a shadow of a
doubt that Ms. Dodge’s cold-blooded killer has not been identified, charged, or
incarcerated? In such context, the false imputation to you of remarks about
closure brands you as delusional at best, or as harboring a hidden agenda for
condoning egregious miscarriage of justice entailed by Mr. Tapp’s imprisonment
for more than a decade. “More effective that retraction, as a means of salvaging
your tarnished image, would be a press conference asking Attorney General Wasden
to reopen the Tapp matter. Justice delayed is justice denied, true, but belated
justice is better than none at all.”